Geographers glimpse German Government at work

22/08/08

Geographers glimpse German Government at work

It’s not every day that a group of students get invited to have a look inside the German equivalent of Whitehall, but for a handful of Kingston University geographers, that’s exactly what happened. The 18 second-year geography students stepped through the doors of the Kanzleramt for the once-in-a-lifetime guided tour of Germany’s power house during a field trip to the capital Berlin.

Set up by Dr Anne Clausen, from the University’s School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, the students had a discussion with Dr Maximilian Müller-Härlin, the personal assistant for the Minister of State for Integration, Professor Maria Böhmer, during their visit to the Kanzleramt. “The students have been studying geographies of migration and integration, and Berlin is a great case study,” Dr Clausen said. “Not only does it have one of the highest foreign migrant populations in the country, but it also has the East - West perspective to add to the dynamics. I thought visiting the Kanzleramt would be a fitting finale to the five-day fieldtrip, since the German Government’s integration policy team is based there.”

Geography student Tim Durrant found the Kanzleramt visit the highlight of the trip. “The visit provided an unrivalled opportunity to understand the workings of the German Government's integration policy team, which will be invaluable to my studies,” the 20-year-old student, who originally hails from Greenwich, London, said.